4 Comments

1. 

   Moshe Escott on May 11, 2015 at 11:16 am

   According to p. 363 of ספר אהלי שם (http://goo.gl/MmYF7e), Rabbi Rubinstein zt”l was one of the יד החזקה , the original 14 students who came with R. Isser Zalman Meltzer zt”l from the Slabodka yeshiva in 1897 to found the Slutzk yeshiva.

   He himself has a brief listing there on p. 339 (http://goo.gl/HWk1GT) as the rav of Genitzesk, a position he held before he came to Vilna.

   He was eventually selected as רב מטעם of Vilna by the Russian government around 1910 with the support of R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinsky, zt”l. Here is a link to a photo of him in Vilna from around that period. He is in the center and R. Henoch Agus zt”l (author of the מרחשת) is all the way on the left:
   http://goo.gl/a12HjM
   Here is another link to photos of Vilna rabbanim from that time that include R. Rubinstein, R. Chaim Ozer and R. Menachem Krakowsky zt”l:
   http://goo.gl/AzdOXR

   R. Rubinstein was very active in Jewish war relief efforts in WW1. There is much mention of him during this period in the JDC archives. If you go to http://search.archives.jdc.org/ and search for rabbi and rubinstein, you will find many documents that include him. R. Rubinstein was associated with Mizrachi. At times he can be seen working in conjunction with R. Chaim Ozer and
   Agudas Yisroel and at times they had differences as to how funds received from the Central Relief Committee should be distributed in Vilna.

   In the late 1920s at a time when the Polish government controlled Vilna, they decided to only appoint a single chief rabbi. A struggle broke out with the Mizrachists supporting R. Rubinstein and the Agudists supporting R. Chaim Ozer. Initially, R. Rubinstein was elected and later a dual rabbinate was allowed with the inclusion of R. Chaim Ozer.

   In 1941, R. Rubinstein fled Europe to the USA. He was offered a position as a מגיד שיעור at RIETS and he remained there until his פטירה in late 1945. Here is a link to a photo of him among the ראשי ישיבה of RIETS in 1944 (from “The Rav” vol 2, p.216 by R. Aharon Rakkefet). He is sitting third from the left:
   https://goo.gl/pXFaa3

   Other places that discuss R. Rubinstein’s life are:
   – A listing in Vol 5, pp. 585-588 of אנציקלופדיה של הציונות הדתית (available on Otzar HaChochma)
   – An article by R. Shnayer Leiman (especially footnotes 3 and 6) at: http://leimanlibrary.com/texts_of_publications/102.%20Rabbi%20Yehiel%20Yaakov%20Weinberg%20In%20Praise%20of%20Esther%20Rubinstein.pdf
   – A post at The Seforim Blog: http://goo.gl/YPE1od
   – A post at ivelt: http://goo.gl/m0Rul2
   – A post at otzar hachochma: http://goo.gl/Rd0oZ0
   – A listing at the YIVO Encyclopedia: http://goo.gl/Y5PW5b

2. 

   Cheskel on May 19, 2015 at 3:52 pm

   Moshe,
   Maybe you also copy the words of the Chofetz Chayim on him ?

3. 

   Moshe Escott on May 20, 2015 at 9:54 am

   If you’re referring to the critical comments in the name of the Chofetz Chaim re: R. Rubinstein speaking Russian you can refer to the Seforim Blog or ivelt posts I listed above.

   More on R. Rubinstein:

   a report in הפרדס re: his arrival in America
   http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=12435&pgnum=21

   a report of his petira in המסילה
   http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=28678&pgnum=18

   a hesped delivered at RIETS by Rav Aharon Burack zt”l that was printed in פרחי אהרן
   http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=2616&pgnum=283

4. 

   m horn (nee stein) on October 21, 2017 at 10:28 pm

   looking for Yitzchok rubinsteins family or son Michael